Sydney’s brothel barons have cast serious doubt on the integrity of the former prostitute claiming to have had sex with Craig Thomson.

It is claimed that Channel Nine’s A Current Affair has offered her $60,000 to spill the beans on their night of carnal pleasure. News Ltd reports this morning that she lives at Cabarita Beach on the NSW north coast after previously working in Sydney as an escort with Boardroom Escorts.

On ACA last night, reporter Justin Armsden said that their investigation was centred on a CBA MasterCard payment of $770 paid by Thomson on May 7, 2005, to International Immobiliare, which is the corporate entity of the escort agency Boardroom Escorts. Sex businesses disguise the nature of the payment that appears on credit card statements when clients pay by credit card to ensure a level of discretion.

ACA has now whisked her away to an overseas location to be interviewed — some seven years after the alleged event — in return for a bag of money. But, according to some of Sydney’s leading brothel barons, that is the problem with the whole ACA deal — seven years is a long time ago.

The current owner of Boardroom Escorts is Alex Lavey, who purchased the business in 2008, three years after the alleged Thomson event.

“I think it’s bullshit,” he told Crikey. “How can she remember back seven years? Some of the girls I’ve got here now can’t remember what happened last week let alone last year or the year before that.”

Lavey claims that his escorts currently do 5-12 jobs per week on average. But back in 2005, business was going gangbusters in the sex industry. Lee Cameron, owner of two brothels in Chatswood including the up-market La Petite Aroma, told Crikey: “In those days, business was booming and good escorts could see up to eight clients a night four nights a week. They would have a driver who would camp outside and then drive them to the next job.  It was that busy.”

Using Cameron’s figures an escort back in 2005 would see up to 32 clients a week. Factor in, say, a 40-week working year, and an escort could have potentially seen 1280 clients in just one year.

I asked Cameron whether it was conceivable that an escort could remember a client from seven years ago, given the high number of men they would see. “Her claims have little credence.  She couldn’t remember. She couldn’t. If it was a movie star like Sly Stallone or someone famous, they might but Thomson was not a public figure back then,” she said.

Cameron also questioned the integrity of some sex workers suggesting that many have issues such as drug and alcohol dependency: “If I was A Current Affair I would be very careful as this could be a potential con-job.”

Cameron’s and Lavey’s thoughts are echoed by Helen, owner of Liaisons, an exclusive brothel in Edgecliffe and The Golden Apple in Potts Point, the latter made famous in the recent Underbelly series. Casting doubts on why the former pr-stitute doesn’t want to be identified, Helen told Crikey: “The interview won’t have any credibility if the face is pixelated and voice distorted. It could be anyone. If you want to come forward and attempt to destroy someone’s reputation, then you can’t hide behind anonymity.”

Helen also raised issues about the integrity of some sex workers in the industry saying that many are unreliable: “The likelihood of a prostitute seeing a client on only one occasion such as this and now remembering him seven years later is most unlikely.”

Helen remembers the time she walked out of Liaisons for lunch one day and as she did in walked one of Australia’s most famous former politicians: “I checked later with the girl who saw him and she didn’t even know who he was. I knew who he was though.”

Meanwhile, Lavey is concerned about losing business because a former worker is outing a client even though he didn’t own the business at the time. “I’m not sure how much this bad publicity will affect my business. Privacy and discretion is very important in this industry,” he said.

Lavey’s website boasts:

Is my privacy 100% safe with Boardroom?

Absolutely! Here at Boardroom, your privacy and satisfaction with our services is our number one concern. This being the case, you can rest easy knowing we’ll take care of you with impeccable discretion. We will never at any time share any of your private information with anyone … guaranteed.